Besnard picked by Ford team in nick of time

V8 supercar driver David Besnard has been thrown a lifeline and will get a drive for the coming season in a new Queensland-based Ford team.

A former Stone Brothers Racing driver, Besnard was dumped by Ford Performance Racing last year when the Melbourne-based squad opted to run with two, not three, cars and faced a season on the sidelines.

With just five weeks to go before the 2004 V8 campaign gets under way in Adelaide, the Sydney-born driver - a former national formula Ford champion and previous winner of one of the country's major V8 endurance races, the Queensland 500 - still had not found a team.

But Besnard has been snapped up by a new squad that will be backed by several sponsors gathered by team principal Craig Gore.

The operation has reportedly bought the two BA Falcons used last year by the 00 Motorsport squad along with most of 00's spares and parts. Full details, including the new team's livery and entry name, will be unveiled in Brisbane at the weekend.

Yesterday, all Besnard would say about his 11th-hour reprieve was: "I am excited about the year ahead. We have a massive job ahead of us, but we are starting to gather some of the right people around us."

In other V8 news, the England-based Triple Eight engineering unveiled its new Falcon racecars with distinctive livery. The team's numbers (last year 65 and 66) will change, with Brazilian Max Wilson carrying 888 and New Zealander Paul Radisich carrying 88.

Meanwhile, Australian Troy Bayliss made an encouraging start on his first test day on a new Ducati race bike. Bayliss completed a total of 44 laps at the Sepang track in Malaysia, setting a best time of two minutes, 04.208 seconds, well over half-a-second quicker than last year's race time (2:04.989). "I went quicker than last year's race time and that's a good sign," he said.